Traditional barriers between the boundaries of broadcast television, direct broadcast satellite networks, cable systems, MMDS, terrestrial network operators, internet technologies, dedicated point to point wide area networks, and general purpose computing have begun to rapidly dissolve. In particular, we are witnessing the gradual migration of these technologies to an integrated whole. In the development of the interconnection architectures that will be enabling of these emergent home and portable multimedia entertainment and commerce systems, we will witness the growth of topologies analogous to the evolution of centralized and distributed computing, transmission, and storage architectures. Present applications for these types of systems include interactive entertainment, all forms of electronic commerce, digital music downloads, digital video downloads, pay per view, pay per play audio, near or true video on demand, near or true audio on demand, near or true books on demand, software downloads and distribution, interactive advertising, gaming, home banking, education, and regionalized or end user targeted weather and news, (to name but a few).
Within the current art of the emergency broadcast system, a traditional television viewer or radio station listener is notified of an alert message by a signal broadcast by one or more central emergency centers which interrupts the current programming In the event of a disaster or other emergency, all stations viewers or listeners receive a uniform message containing the nature of the emergency and related advisory information.
Thus a fundamental problem within the current art is the presumption that the station or stations broadcasting the emergency notification will reach all viewers. This is further compounded by the now broad proliferation of channels and media options.
Another problem within the current art is that members of the target notification audience may not be presently viewing or listening on any form of media at all, let alone one that has an emergency broadcast notification capability, and further may be otherwise engaged in activities and locations that make notification by traditional broadcast means unfeasible.
Another problem within the current art is the broadcast nature of the emergency notification. In particular, once emergency notification content has been created it must be continuously rebroadcast until updated information has been created. Thus the presentation of information is in a serial format and the viewer or listener must continuously stay “tuned in” for a complete message, along with future updates.
Yet another problem within the current art is the need for a broadcast station or node to keep re-broadcasting the emergency notification content. In the event that this transmitting station or node is rendered inoperative by any means, for example by the emergency itself such as a terrorist attack or natural disaster, normal random system failure, or by any other means, the message may times.
Yet another problem within the current art is within the broadcast nature of the message itself. Viewers and listeners in differing geographic areas, individuals with different personal needs or concerns, emergency workers and support personnel with diverse skills, all have both a need and desire for differing information, and all are currently presented with a uniform message, limited in scope and content due to the amount of information that can be continuously rebroadcast within a reasonable time period.